Laws enforcing lockdown restrictions in areas of the north of England including Greater Manchester, parts of east Lancashire and West Yorkshire have come into force today.
As a resident of Stockport in Greater Manchester I was keen to read what I can and can’t do – and, crucially, when the restrictions will be lifted. The new law is not the lightest read, though it did introduce me to a new word: appurtenance (a possession or piece of property that is considered to be a typical feature of a particular way of living).
My MP, Conservative William Wragg, has been telling residents the measures will be reviewed every week.
But the legislation only commits the government to do so by 19 August, more than two weeks from now. That’s not to say they won’t lift them before that, but they don’t have to.
Now, it seems, I cannot meet others from different households in areas outside the lockdown zone, such as at homes in nearby towns not subject to the rules. Yes, it’s the return of the so-called “lockdown sex ban”, because the law prohibits encounters between people from different households in their homes or other “private dwellings” and defines a gathering as “when two or more people are present together in the same place in order to engage in any form of social interaction with each other, or to undertake any other activity with each other”.
The new guidelines impose restrictions on Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle, Rossendale, Calderdale and Kirklees.
Anyone found flouting the rules could be fined £100, up to a maximum of £3,200 for repeat offences.
